Parents can use the 'digital native dictionary' to decode what their children
say online, after it was revealed that almost two thirds don't understand
the language their children use on the internet.

A study has revealed that almost half of UK parents don’t regularly monitor their children online, and nearly two thirds admit that they don’t have a good grasp of the language their children use on the internet.

Almost seven in ten of the parents surveyed were unable to identify whether commonly used words and phrases online had a positive or negative meaning.

The research, which was conducted by Disney’s Club Penguin - the online virtual world for children - surveyed 1,000 parents with children between the ages of 6 and 14 and yesterday published a ‘digital native dictionary’ which lists the vocabulary young people may regularly use online.

The dictionary marks the launch of a new campaign, It Starts With You, which aims to teach children and parents about online safety. The launch forms part of the internet safety campaign that Disney began last year; promising to donate £3m of media air time to support the internet safety message, including that of their partners the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) and Childnet.

In the dictionary, which is available online, words such as ‘neg’, ‘jank’ ‘fetch’ and ‘outers’* are translated for parents, giving them the tools to better support and monitor their children on the internet.

Lucy Woodward, Interactive Live Services Director at Club Penguin said, "New language is constantly being born online. We have a team here of over 200 moderators, and since our launch we have learnt a lot about the way that children communicate on the internet.

"It’s hugely important that there are human moderators on any children’s site and the campaign itself, which launched yesterday, is about helping children to have a positive experience on the internet and giving parents the tools to help them."

Jonathan Baggaley, Head of Education at the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre said, "Campaigns like this are vital at a time when children's lives are dominated by the online world. The internet is a great place and we certainly don't want to stop children using it; we simply want them to be safer when they're surfing. Disney's Club Penguin campaign really complements other internet safety projects out there such as CEOP's Thinkuknow programme."

Further to the digital dictionary, Club Penguin are also running a TV campaign; their aim being to get their message out to as many parents and children as possible.

"As a parent myself, despite working in this environment everyday, even I have been surprised by some of the words; some that are seemingly positive can actually be very negative," said Lucy. "We hope the dictionary will show parents that they do need to show an interest in what their children are doing online."